A Cruel, Cruel, World
by JustKeepWalkingNeverStop
Summary: Different people react differently to different things. To one person, a traumatic event can be seen as a run of bad luck, but to another... it can be seen as an eye opener. Eren Jaeger's eyes were open on that fateful day, and the world may never be the same.


A Cruel, Cruel, World

Chapter 1: Pilot

**Beta'd By the Awesome: DarkNite88**

Opening: Believe (Moon Version) By The Bravery. Album: The Moon.

"Wait! Dammit! Let me go, you ass! Okaa-san!" yells Eren Jaeger as he and his adopted sister Mikasa get carried away by a blond man named Hannes. Eren can only watch helplessly as that smiling Titan bastard picks up his mother in one of his disproportionate hands and slowly, almost tenderly, brings her up to his maw. Time seems to freeze right before the Titan chomps down on Carla. The woman, while still in the giant's grip, turns to Eren with no facial expression asking**,** "Why'd you let me die, Eren? I thought you loved me!"

"I-I do Mom!"

Carla begins to cackle, as if laughing at a funny joke.

"They why were you too weak to save me?"

Eren looks on confused before time resumes and the Titan eats his mother whole.

"OKAA-SAN!"

-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-

"OKAA-SAN!" gasps Eren as he wakes up in the landfill. The landfill isn't much, but it is enough until he, Mikasa, and Armin can enroll into the military in a couple weeks. He looks around frantically before sighing.

_Another nightmare._

"Are you ok, Eren?" asks a feminine voice to his right. Eren glances at Mikasa and nods curtly.

"Yeah, just another bad dream."

"Is it about S-"

Eren sighs. "Not now, ok? I-I just want to forget." Mikasa stays quiet for a while before nodding. She then rests her head against her bedroll and drifts off too sleep. Eren watches her before sighing and standing up.

_I just need some fresh air._

Eren walks out of the landfill, both the memory and the dream haunting his mind. Eventually, Eren finds himself on top of a hill overlooking most of Trost. The Shifter-to-be lies down on the freshly cut grass. He gazes at the stars and thinks

_Mom… It was my own weakness and cowardice that got you killed. I will get stronger, I promise._

"Hey, idiot**,** you're going to catch a cold out here, " states an apathetic feminine voice from behind him.

Eren snorts, whilst still looking at the stars**. **"You don't really sound like you care."

He gets no retort; instead the voice comes and sits down next to him. He sends the person a glance, noting her pale blonde hair and strikingly azure eyes. Neither of them says anything. Really, nothing needs to be said.

"I saw you earlier…you were getting rations, right? Were you at Shiganshina?"

The girl stays quiet for a while**.** "Yeah, I was." _As a Titan,_ she continues mentally.

Eren nods. "It seems like just a year ago, I was running around picking fights and arguing with my mom." He lets out a dry chuckle. "But, that was in the past. I have to keep moving forward, or everything she died for will be in vain."

Annie looks at Eren**.** "Why? If you know the path ahead is going to kill you why keep on walking?"

Eren looks up at the stars**.** "Because I know there's nothing else for me to do. If I walk backwards, nothing will ever get done. If I stay still, the world will just pass me by. The only thing worth doing is moving forward. It's for that reason that I both envy the stars and I pity them. They don't need to worry about the little things like us, but they're stuck up there, doomed to the role of frozen observer."

He stands up and begins to walk away with his hands in his pockets.

"I'm no star. I'm just a normal human. I bleed and die, but I also move. I never stay in one place, and that's something I'll never take for granted."

And with that, the boy leaves. Annie looks back up at the stars letting one of her rare genuine smiles spread across her face.

_You're a lot of things, Eren Jaegar, but normal is not among them._

-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-

Weeks later**,** the three end up in the military academy. In all honesty, Eren thought it'd be harder, but because of where he comes from the drill instructor doesn't even ask him why he joined. If the drill instructor did, he would've gotten a simple response:

"To get stronger."

Eren silently sits in one of the corners of the mess hall with Mikasa and Armin. The only blonde at the table shifts uncomfortably as his best friends stoically eat and sends a glance at Eren.

_He's changed so much since Shiganshina. It's almost like I don't even know him anymore._

"Hey, weren't you three at Wall Maria?" asks a random trainee to their left.

With Armin's nod, the floodgates seem to burst open. Questions after questions about Titans and 'what that they were like?' or 'where they really that scary?' just seem to flow out of their mouths. Eren withholds his snort and continues his meal. Soon, a question comes his way from a guy named Jean.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?!"

Eren completely ignores him and stands up. Putting his hands in his pockets, he makes for the door. "Oi! Don't ignore me! Do you want to get socked in the face?" Jean roars. Once again, Eren ignores him. "All of you Shiganshina guys think you're so special just because you've seen some measly titans,**" **Jean scoffs.

Eren stops right in front of the door, "Have you ever seen one?"

Jean once again scoffs, "Hell no! And that's why I want to join the MPs. So, I NEVER have to see one."

Eren turns his head half around**.**

"Yeah, you seem like one of those types."

The Trost native looks at him confused**.** "One of those types? What do you mean?"

Eren looks back towards the door**.** "A pussy."

And with that, Eren walks out**,** Mikasa following almost immediately.

Everyone stares slack-jawed at where he once stood. Armin sighs.

"Sorry. It's just ever since… everything happened, Eren's been acting a lot colder towards people." A big blond guy, Reiner, walks up to the table and asks, "Exactly what happened?"

"He and Mikasa had to watch their mother, or, adopted, in Mikasa's case, be eaten alive by a titan." Once again, the room goes completely silent.

"H-How was he before that happened?"asks another guy, Bertolt. No one notices, but Annie looks up with interest.

Armin smiles sadly**.** "Brash and hard-headed, but loyal to a fault. Now, he's calm, cool, but distant. He hardly tells me or Mikasa anything anymore."

Jean asks, "Mikasa... Is she and Eren close?"

The young genius smirks. "Yeah. They're hardly seen without each other." Jean looks down and sighs. Connie walks up to him and pats his shoulder.

"Oh, does Jean have a crush?"

Jean blushes and stutters, "S-Shut up, Connie!" Everyone erupts in laughter, forgetting the tense atmosphere.

The Next Day

"Alright you maggots! It's time for training to see if you can even use a 3DMG!" roars Shadis. Shadis looks on as Mikasa Ackerman, Eren Yeager, Armin Arlert, Reiner Braun and Annie Leonhart all use the 3DMG for the first time. Both Mikasa and Eren do it as if they've been 3DMG**-**ing since the day they were born.

_Two prodigies._

Armin, Reiner, and Annie all have little trouble, but compared to Mikasa and Eren they seem small time.

_Hm, looks like a good crop this year._

"OK, runts! Time for some exercise!" A couple groans reach his ears, and Shadis can't help but wickedly smile.

_Music to my very soul._

-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-

Two years pass and the trainees all are participating in a fitness assessment with Shadis watching over them.

Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Jaegerare prodigious unlike anything he's seen before. Both are model soldiers, except for Eren's crippling self-reliance complex. The only people he works well with are Armin Arlert, Mikasa Ackerman, and**,** surprisingly, Annie Leonhart. Past that, he'd make a damn fine team leader.

"Time for some hand-to-hand!"

Annie stands across from Eren in her signature fighting stance. Neither move for a second, before Eren shoots off with a haymaker. Annie uses his weight and momentum against him and tosses Eren over her shoulder. He corrects himself midair and lands smoothly. Then, he rushes her again. Annie sighs at his unusual hard-headedness and sends her foot for his right shin. After numerous training spars, Eren has learnt how to counter this annoying move. With a practiced grace, Eren shifts his weight to his left and sends his right leg directly into her abdomen. The air leaves her lungs and she's sent to the ground**.** Eren presses his advantage by putting his knee to the nape of neck.

"Surrender**,**" he simply states. The two lock eyes and Annie sighs**.**

"Fine." Eren stands up and offers his hand. Annie takes it with a small smile. Eren smirks at her and walks away. While waving bye to Annie, Eren calls out, "Hey, Mikasa. Let's spar." Mikasa, who was fighting Sasha, nods and easily takes down Sasha. Giving the potato girl a small apology, she jogs over to Eren and the two begin their spar. "So..." trails off Mikasa as she dodges a knee.

"So what?" inquires Eren.

"So… you and Annie…" continues Mikasa with a hint of sadness. Due to this sadness, Mikasa has a lapse in her reaction time. A lapse that Eren takes advantage of. In a matter of seconds, Mikasa's on the ground with Eren staring intently at her. "We've already been over this, Mikasa."

"I-I know! But.."

"But, what?" asks Eren stoically. Mikasa just looks down at the ground in shame. Sighing, Eren holds out his hand to her. Surprised, the pale beauty looks up to see Eren genuinely smiling at her. She pulls up her - his - beloved scarf to cover her blush and accepts the hand.

"Time for supper!"

"Yosh!" **s**queals Sasha.

-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-Chapter 1-

As time passed, more people joined the three Shiganshina survivors. These people included: Reiner, Bert, Jean, Marco, Connie, Sasha, Mina and surprisingly, Annie. The topic at the table was which part of the military were they going to join.

"Recon, probably," states Marco. "What? Why?" Jean exclaims.

Eren sighs. _Maria, he's loud_.

His sigh catches Armin's attention.

"Something wrong, Eren?" Eren sends his best friend a glance before shrugging and going back to eating.

"So, what division are you joining, Jaegar?"

Eren simply replies, "Recon."

Jean smirks, "I thought you would. After all, all the freaks go there."

Eren doesn't grace him with a retort. Jean growls, "Why do you act like that? Don't you care at all? About anything?" Mikasa prepares to stand up for her brother but the next thing that Jean says shakes her to the core:"You always act like you're better than everyone else! I bet your mo-" Jean doesn't get too finish before Eren reaches over the table and punches him right in the mouth. Jean falls over his seat as Eren jumps over the table and lands right next to him. Eren crouches next to him**.** "There's a reason I act the way I do, dipshit. It's because unlike all of you, I'm awake. This easy world you're striving for, Jean, doesn't exist. And, it will never exist! There is no happiness in this world! No love, or compassion! There's only pain, never stopping, never ending pain." Then, Eren stands up and walks out. Mikasa wordlessly follows, but there's evident sadness in her eyes. While no one's watching, Annie allows a small smile to cross her lips.

_He's just like me._

Ending: Broken (Feat Amy Lee) By Seether. Album: Disclaimer II

**A/N: And, there's chapter Uno! It was rather difficult, let me tell ya! Anyways, I just finished watching the Anime and y'know a scenario just popped in my head.**

**"What if Eren's mom's death affected him differently?"**

**So, here it is! Hope you all liked it.**


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